Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Joys of Home Ownership

Yes, This Sucks
When I came home from church today, I was pretty excited. I had take-out from one of my favorite local restaurants, the day stretched ahead with not much on the agenda. (Well, there is laundry to do, but the machines do the real work, I just load, unload and fold.)

As I was going from the living room to the upstairs, I felt a certain wetness on the floor. Something which drives me nuts when I'm only in my stocking feet. So I do the standard pause and look down at my foot. Yes, my sock is wet. From there my gaze went to the floor. Where there is a puddle. (Why wouldn't I have looked at the floor first? I could FEEL that my foot was wet. Why did I have to look at it? Odd the way my mind works.)

At any rate, there is a puddle. On the floor of my living room. First thought was that perhaps one of the cats....? No, the wetness passed the smell test. Besides both cats were looking at me like "We had NOTHING to do with that!"

So then my gaze travels to the ceiling, where I behold that which you see above. More or less.

I say more or less because at first there was just moisture on the ceiling, dripping from that one spot. The crack came later when I was exploring the extent of the wetness. Seems there was another puddle in the house, just above the ceiling it was.

So it has been raining here, a lot. While I was in church it was coming down hard.

Another data point is that the leak wasn't there yesterday. I'm guessing that the big snowstorm we had a couple of weeks ago somehow damaged the front roof. Now when it rains, water gathers under the roof and eventually puddles above the ceiling. Eventually that water made its way through the ceiling and into my living room.

Wonderful. I called my roofing guy, he's coming tomorrow morning.

Just what I wanted to do. Spend more money on repairs.

I remember when we used to rent. Something broke, you called the landlord. He fixed it and he also paid for it. There are times when I miss those days.

The joys of being a home owner.

Are sometimes overrated. Vastly overrated.

Lest you think the day was a complete disaster, the take-out I brought home was good. Very good.

20 comments:

  1. Do you have homeowners insurance?
    Does it cover storm damage?

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    Replies
    1. Yes and probably. I say probably because until my roofer comes out and has a look at it, I'm speculating that the storm "may" be responsible for the leak. The way my luck runs, probably not.

      But thanks for the tip IT, rest assured I will take a look at that course of action.

      Delete
  2. Two year ago... at just about this time of year... we had a similar issue.
    I posted about it off and on for weeks, maybe months.
    I had to pay for the roof repairs.
    The insurance company paid for everything else (which included mold remediation and drying everything out).
    It wasn't cheap.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mean the remediation and repairs inside weren't cheap.
      The roofer let me off easy.

      Delete
    2. Yes, I'm trying to get the problem fixed before it becomes a bigger (read more expensive) problem.

      Delete
  3. Called the roofer - ooh la la! To me that is like some sort of secret sin. Sheer decadence!

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    Replies
    1. Sad to say that it's a necessity. I'm not very handy. I've learned to let the professionals do it.

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  4. ha wish I could post a picture of what happened with our roof two years ago. The drip pan for the AC overflowed one night-two nights before we were supposed to go out of town for two weeks as a matter of fact.

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    Replies
    1. We each woke up wondering what on earth the other was doing in the shower at that hour. When we each realized the other was actually in bed we then thought it was our son. We then thought about that a little harder realizing there is NO WAY he'd be up at that hour and went into the great room and saw a two foot bubble in the ceiling with water pouring out all over the place.

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    2. That does NOT sound good. Fortunately, my leak is much smaller. I think. I hope.

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  5. drat let's try that again. on a lighter note? My pastor is as strong as the doctrine he preaches.

    Strong Pastor

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    Replies
    1. Heh. I've heard that the Presbyterians are a tough bunch!

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  6. Sometimes with a lot of snow you get ice dams. Between rain and melting snow the water has nowhere to go and it WILL find a way. If it can not just slide down and go the gutter way it can work under the shingles. Not always a roof problem perse, and something insurance should cover for interior damage.

    http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,1131314,00.html

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    Replies
    1. During the blizzard most of the snow blew off of the roof. Note I said "most". A good possibility we had some ice dam action going on up there. We shall see.

      But it still sucks to have to deal with it.

      Delete
  7. I remember when we used to rent. Something broke, you called the landlord. He fixed it and he also paid for it. There are times when I miss those days.

    This is PRECISELY why I choose to rent in my dotage. The Boys gave me a ration o' shi'ite about that but came around when I explained my reasoning. I have homeowner war stories, too... and I'm glad I don't have to deal with 'em any longer.

    That said, good luck with your roofer and the insurance company. It looks like you caught this early and it shouldn't be too bad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Roofer guy couldn't find anything seriously wrong. Theory is that there was an ice dam up there from the big storm. As stuff melted it had no place to go. So it went under the shingles and into the ceiling. Roofer guy DID find a spot where the guys who did the roof ten years ago put nails in the wrong place. Like out in the open, not covered, as in "Yo rain, slide down this way!"

      And we had some pretty heavy rain yesterday AM. Hopefully I'm good to go. $75 for roofer guy. The messed up ceiling (a small part) will be repaired at my leisure. The insurance probably won't be a player as I have a really BIG deductible.

      We shall see.

      Delete
  8. Incidents like the one you descibed generally fall under Murphy's Law...just when you think you can relax, wham right between the shoulder blades..on a Sunday...in the winter...getting out the biggest pan you have is the only alternative...but I'm glad it worked out well

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, at the time I was ripping-mad-furious. To put it mildly.

      Then I realized that it was just Life. Stopping by to say hello. As it was in the neighborhood.

      Oh well, life goes on. Could have been worse I suppose...

      Delete

Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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